I would be great if an alum would post, but I’ll appreciate any info.
What is the university’s reputation?
What is the surrounding neighborhood like (primarily with regard to safety)?
How about public transportation?
Anything else, good or bad, a potential incoming grad student should know?
Thanks!
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I don’t know much about the university itself, but I know the neighborhood pretty well.
It’s in one of the nicest parts of the city outside of the really affluent suburbs. It is the city, so you do have to be a little careful, but you could easily pick a worse part of town.
Within the city, it’s fantastic. If you’re going to be living and working downtown, there’s really no reason to have a car. That’s good, because one of Philly’s big claims to fame is how expensive auto insurance is in the city. If you’re out in the suburbs, you can use the train to commute in and out without too much trouble, but you will need a car to live out there.
TJU has a pretty good reputation for its graduate school. As ultra mentioned, it is in a very nice neighborhood. It is on the border of the “Gayborhood”, a nice place for restaurants, nightlife and to live in general. Very safe in my book, much more so than Temple or even Drexel and Penn.
The area is thick with graduate students and young professionals. Public transportation is easily accessible, multiple bus lines run by and through the campus. The El runs under Market Street and has a stop at 11th. It runs East-West from 69th to 2nd and then North to Frankford. The Broad Street Line is a few blocks away. Chinatown is just a few blocks away. You really can’t go wrong living in the vicinity of TJU.
When I was growing up, it was a hospital and a med school. It had a good reputation too (both the med school and hospital). So I assume it is concentrated in the bio sciences. As said it is right downtown and if I ever moved back to Philly, I wouldn’t mind living around there. Although I would prefer a few blocks away on Rittenhouse Square.